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Source: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/oct/14/gaza-celebrates-hamas-prepares-next-war/
Gaza Celebrates while Hamas Prepares for the Next War
(Washington Times) Clifford D. May - For the past few days, large crowds of healthy, energetic men, women and children have been cheering, dancing in the streets and chanting "Allahu akbar!" - all recorded on their fully charged cellphones. These scenes make clear there is no Israeli-engineered famine in Gaza, much less a genocide. A central pillar of Hamas's war strategy has been to cause maximum hardship in Gaza, confident that useful idiots in the West would blame Israelis. Gaza had 36 hospitals, elegant restaurants, shopping malls and luxury auto dealerships. Such wonders were produced thanks to the river of foreign aid that flowed into Gaza after Hamas's violent ascension to power in 2007, two years after Israel's complete withdrawal from the territory. That left Hamas commander Yahya Sinwar free to devote his energies to war planning: importing munitions via Egypt, building weapons factories and constructing a subterranean fortress. Sinwar instructed his terrorist troops to commit multiple atrocities, film them and then broadcast them. According to a memo acquired by the New York Times, he believed Muslims around the world would "respond positively to calls for them to join the revolution." Hamas troops have now emerged from their tunnels, proudly wearing their uniforms and reasserting control by executing opponents, rivals and dissidents. Hamas leaders regard the ceasefire with Israel not as "peace" but only a "hudna," a truce during which they can prepare for the next battle in the jihad. The writer is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.